Saturday, August 29, 2009

While browsing one of my favorite eBay stores where I like to pick up skin care, body stuff and sometimes makeup I stumled across some interesting makeup from DHC. I actually visited his shop because I wanted to order one of my beloved Q10 Eye Treatment Concealer in Light Beige (I reviewed it here on my blog and used it up on my trip to Egypt!)Anyways, back to the stuff I spotted =) The whitening makeup series from DHC contains platinum which sounded pretty interesting thus worth trying out.

The Color Base comes in 5 colors out of which I picked the ivory one. The others are pink, shiny beige, natural beige and cool green.It comes in a bottle with a strangely shaped cap and you need to shake it before application.

The base is a lightweight milky emulsion with a pale yellowish beige light tint so it evens out my skin a little. I find it creates a smooth canvas for the foundation, too.

This has a relatively strong chemical smell in my opinion which annoys me a little.

All in all a good base but not super special in my opinion. Priced somewhere around US$15 for (only!) 25ml.

The Cream Foundation comes in a simple squeeze tube containing 30g. There are 6 colors of which I picked the one I assumed to be the lightest one (OC-00). I had relatively good luck with DHC foundations so far so I thought it would fit.

The foundation has a really nice creamy texture and goes on smoothly without looking blotchy. The coverage is quite good, about medium I'd say and the finish is slightly dewy.

Sounds great but it has one big problem: the color is waaaaaaaaay too yellow and about 2 shades too dark. Really a pity!(If anyone is interested email me, I'd let this go for US$14 incl. shipping, tested only 1x).I paid about US$22 for this +shipping.

All in all a bit of a disappointment as I really like the texture and finish of the foundation but just won't find a color suitable for me!

Majolica Majorca always used to be one of my favorite brands as the quality and packaging are always great. To be honest my love for it cooled down a little within the previous years but still they do release good stuff from time to time.

MM just revamped their Automatic Liner this fall which is the 2nd time since I know the brand. About 2 or 3 years ago they replaced it with the Neo Automatic Liner which - in my opinion - didn't really have a very improved formula (I should mention that I liked the old and the Neo version). The main problem the liners always had was that the ink was a little too sheer so 2 or 3 layers are needed to make the liner show up well.. which can result in slight flaking.

This fall MM introduced the Perfect Automatic Liner featuring 7 colors. I noticed that the colors generally got a little darker than their predecessors which is a good thing as I prefer darker liners for better definition. Especially the green shade, which so far was an olivey golden shade, is now a gorgeous deep blackened emerald green.

The packaging hasn't changed, just the print is a little different from the previous version. It's a pen filled with liquid ink which you can ooze out by twisting the botton. When you get the pen please make sure to remove the pink plastic ring and push the 2 parts of the pen together firmly otherwise you'll have a big mess.

The tip is a medium synthetic bristles brush which does a great job of drawing a precise line (thick or thin works equally well for me).I pretty much love this eye liner but I wish they had made the ink more pigmented this time. It still takes 2-3 layers to show up intensely though I have to admit that the flaking problem seems gone for me so doing 3 layers is fine.

The staying power is great, the liners stay on all day long on me without fading.

RRP is 1260 Yen in Japan (about US$12)

I got 2 colors which looked like the most attractive/unique among the lot:

-GR604: A gorgeous very deep emerald green with a sheen. Gorgeous jewel color for fall!-BK920: A metallic deep silver gray. Love this color!

The "Fairy Sadistic" collection (what a stupid name, really!) also features a new Cheek Customize in pale pink (I think it's a highlighter) and some Honey Pump GlossesNeo which I all skipped. I however picked up the Honey Pump Lip Essence.

Majolica Majorca has an amazing lip care out (Majex Lip Cream) so I decided to also try the new Honey Pump Lip Essence. It comes in a squeeze tube just like the glosses and has a honey color to it.Unfortunately the scent is the same as they use for their glosses...a fruity weird scent I really can't stand. I wish it would either smell like honey to match with the name of this or to have a fresh minty scent like the Majex Lip Cream.

Otherwise the lip essence is nice, it has a soft glossy finish and makes my lips really soft.Retails for 504 Yen (about US$5).

All in all the collection itself is a bit disappointing as there were no new eyeshadows (sure they just released 8 colors for summer so it's not a surprise!) but the liners are really worth getting!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

I am really sorry for my lack of posts these weeks... we´re really busy in our holidays (yes, busy!) because we are seeing family nearly every day so at night I am too lazy/tired to post on the blog. Anyway, I am returning home on Tuesday, at home a plethora of packages is awaiting me (incl. new stuff from the Kate, Lavshuca and MM fall collections...and JS and MQ are on the way as well... so those will be reviewed as soon as I can swatch them, I promise!).. of course some major Etsying included =)

About 3 years or so someone on Makeupalley told me that I have to try Dr. Ci:Labo skincare if my skin is sensitive. I had some samples of the stuff at home but for some reason didn´t try it out as I was happy with my FancL & Olay (that super simple moisture lotion for sensitive skin) skincare regimen..I am very happy with my Kanebo Freeplus stuff (& Kanebo Kracie Naive for cleansing)... honestly my skin is behaving very well these months.. the last time it got mad was with those Beauty Diary masks...)

Anyway, I found Adambeauty listing Dr. Ci:LaboAqua-Collagen-Gel Super Sensitive some time ago and thought it wouldn´t hurt picking up a small tub for my upcoming travel as the weather in Egypt usually irritates my skin so an extra boost of moisture wouldn´t hurt.Adam also has the regular version up for grabs but I picked the Super Sensitive kind.

The Aqua-Collagen-Gel Super Sensitive comes in a light pink tub in either 50g or 120g. On top of the gel the cover also holds a spatula.Adambeauty charges US$43 for the smaller and US$80 for the larger size so if this is a staple product for you it´s definitely more worth to get the larger one. Amazon.com lists the larger tub for US$59.90 and the smaller one for US$40. Might be more worth checking out!

I picked the smaller tub as I wasn´t sure if I´d like it and 50g is a normal face cream size so I didn´t see why I would pick up the larger tub (yet).

It is recommended for people with sensitive skin as it will strengthen the skin´s natural barrier and give a moisture boost.

The gel is unscented and has a milky white color. The consistency is more like a gel-cream (think Etude House Moistfull Jelly) than a real gel. It has a smooth slippery feel when you touch it.

When I apply this I can feel the moisture right away, it feels so refreshing and nice. When I finish rubbing this into my skin it feels so very soft and smooth but also very lightly sticky (not yucky though) and I feel the moisture stays around all day long. I like to use this on top of my Freeplus Maintenance Care Lotion & Emulsion for that extra kick of mild moisture.

All in all I really like this and find it´s a superior quality skincare product. I still like my Etude HouseMoistfull Jelly but the Dr. Ci:Labo is all in all not as sticky and feels more moisturizing. You just feel the quality is more advanced.

Friday, August 7, 2009

I had been lusting over the new Sonia RykielSparkling Face Powder (esp. the blue-pastel version) for some time now but I just didn´t think the price (somewhere around US$50) was that right. While I would shell out that amount on Lunasol or Jill Stuart Sonia Rykiel often just doesn´t perform too well so I never buy their stuff at full price (though recently I got some items I really like...also cheaper on ebay hehe)... anyway I got the powder for less than half the retail price so I was quite pleased to score it on eBay for such a good price!

The Sparkling Face Powder comes in a gorgeous metallic aqua compact (so summery!) and consists of 6 strips of powder in various colors. For your face you´ll have to swirl your brush across the whole compact but you could possible use the individual colors as sheer shadows. The powder looks baked to me as it has this typical baked feel/texture/finish.

The look you´ll achieve with this is like a glazed bronze, almost metallic so for me it´s rather OTT as a bronzer to use on your whole face (maybe except for evening wear). Also the color is a bit too dark on me so a light hand is needed.It´s lightly scented like all SR products.

While I took the Lunasol bronzer (reviewed very recently) with me and use it nearly daily I left this at home because it´s too dramatic for my taste.

I thought of also posting some pics of our trip to the Egyptian North Coast (Marina). We spent 2 days there in my dad in law´s beach house. There are 2 great pools (1 is shown, my son is on the very right hehe).

On the first day we only went swimming in the pool for the whole afternoon and then went at night to Marina to eat in Chili´s restaurant there (yup, my first food porn coming up now lol).

I got the Texas Fries (but only ate half as it was so filling, they´re so delicious but HEFTY! I read somewhere one of these portions contains 2100 calories and 160g of fat! OMG!)

Our desert was this most yummy Molten Chocolate Cake (shared by all of us). I tell you this stuff is pure evil!

In a toys shop I found this hilarious fake! It says "Bod the Builder" lol! Oh and I should take some pics of the funny cosmetic fakes they sell here!

The 2nd day we went swimming again and then met friends to take us for a ride on their boat =D We found this beautiful golden mosque on the way there =D

Today we´re attending my brother in law´s engagement party (and more family stuff coming up the next days so we´re always kept busy! =X)